


Reunited

by pintobean82



Series: And It Feels So Good [1]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-01-07 07:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12228723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pintobean82/pseuds/pintobean82
Summary: A chance reunion at a bar changes everything.





	1. The Bar

It was the laugh that tipped her off. She hadn’t heard that laugh in eight years. The last time, she was 18 years old and that laugh, or more importantly, the boy with the laugh, had been the center of her world. As her eyes scanned the crowd, the sea of people miraculously parted, and she saw exactly where that laugh was coming from. He was not a boy anymore. 

Broad shoulders, muscular arms covered by a form fitting henley, sharp jaw. Her eyes quickly scanned his body, looking at all these changes. The last time she had seen him he had been lean, a typical 18 year old boy. He had still had the broad shoulders, the muscle, but now everything was more… defined. It was like the gods of the universe had decided to make everything about him ten times more attractive after they broke up. And it must have been those same gods that decided to make him look up and notice her stare.

His laughter abruptly stopped as his eyes met hers. Beautiful, blue eyes she had dreamt about since the last time she saw him, thinking she would never actually see them in person again. 

“Miss, excuse me? Miss?” Feyre ripped her eyes from Rhysand and turned her head towards the bar tender. 

“Your vodka tonic?” he said, as he slid the glass towards her. 

Feyre nodded and accepted the drink with a distracted thanks, already turning back around towards Rhys, only to see a crowd of people where he once was. She began to swivel the bar stool in an attempt to do a quick sweep of the room, only to be met with the broad chest she had been staring at moments ago. God, he must have grown since the last time she saw him too. 

Slowly, Feyre lifted her head and met his eyes once again. He looked… shocked and maybe a little bit awed. There was definitely that same look in his eye that had always been there when they were teenagers. Mischief, but now mixed with disbelief and something else she could not quite place. 

She felt as much as heard her own heart speed up in her chest as she opened her mouth to say, something, anything to encompass how weird and lovely and great it was to see him, but all that came out was…

“Hi.” with a whoosh of breath and a smile she hoped did not seem too uncertain. 

It was like her voice broke whatever had come over him, as if she had confirmed that yes, it was really her, and his lips (oh my god those lips) broke into a real grin. He grabbed her off the stool and pulled her into a crushing hug, one that was both parts, I Can’t Believe It’s Really You and I Sort of Never Want to Let Go. But he set her down entirely too soon, sliding his hands to grip her upper arms and said, still grinning ear to ear, “Where have you been?” 

Yes, he had definitely grown a few inches or so since she had last seen him. He had to bend down at the same time she had to look up to even make eye contact with him.

“Where have I been? Where have you been? My god after freshman year I looked for you, I called you, I even went to your house only to find that you were gone!”, Feyre replied. 

“We moved. That spring my family up and moved and my friend had dropped my phone in the toilet. I lost all my numbers, and was assigned a new number. I couldn’t call or be called apparently. I tried to look you up online but you are stubborn,” he said giving her arms a slight squeeze. “And refuse to have any type of social media.” He grabbed her hand, still smiling, as if he just could not help himself. As if he wanted to make sure she would not disappear in front of his eyes. 

“I tried to email you, to let you know. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye or telling you where I was going. I got the classic ‘this email is not valid’ reply.” 

Feyre started to laugh, “How very “You’ve Got Mail” of you. My email was hacked and they shut it down. I had to make a new one. I cannot believe I never thought to email you. To be fair though, I thought you didn’t want to see me!”

“I always wanted to see you.” Rhys replied, suddenly softer, more serious and meaningful. 

Rhys let go of her hand and Feyre fell back onto the stool, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks. “Well now that you're here and the universe has decided to not keep us apart any more, do you want to have a drink?” she asked him, completely forgetting why she was even in the bar in the first place. 

Rhys looked over his shoulder to the group of friends he was with only a moment before and Feyre quickly backtracked, thinking she had maybe been too forward. “I mean obviously you’re here with other people, I just thought maybe we could catch up or something but…” She stopped talking as he turned back around laughing. 

“I would want nothing more than to have a drink with you right now. I see them every night, I haven’t seen you in years.” He was smiling so broadly it was hard not to smile right back. She opened her mouth to tell him something, anything but was interrupted by a barked, “Rhys!” 

They both looked to see a tall, extremely attractive man headed towards them. 

“Speaking of…” Rhys grumbled, quickly turning back to Feyre, “Please take everything he says with a grain of salt, Cassian is entirely too obnoxious for his own good.” 

“Hey! I can hear you!” The man, Cassian apparently, said as he finally stopped in front of them. 

“Feyre, meet Cassian. Cassian, this is-”

“Feyre Archernon. I know who she is, you prick.” Cassian said with a wide grin. He turned towards her and she saw a gleam in his eye, telling her this conversation was about to get awkward. 

“Rhys never shuts up about you. Especially in college. Oh my god, you should have heard him! ‘Feyre is amazing, you have to meet her. Feyre is the most beautiful person you will ever know. Whenever she gets tired, her nose crinkles in the most adorable way. She’s going to become a professional painter someday, just you wait. Feyre will be the most beautiful bride. I can’t wait to wake up next to her for the rest of my life.’ When you two broke up, I thought he was never going to get out of bed. I finally offered to bring him to rugby just so he would do something other than homework and look at pictures of you all day and-” 

“Okay that’s entirely enough!” Rhys said, cheeks flushed and eyes wide with panic at all his friend was revealing. “Shouldn’t you be off looking for your new girlfriend you're supposed to be introducing us too?” 

“Oh, Nesta will be here soon, she likes to arrive fashionably late. Mostly to piss me off.” He said as he looked at Feyre and winked. 

And suddenly everything began to fall into place. 

“You’re Nesta’s new boyfriend?” Feyre asked, disbelief and shock apparent on every one of her features. “You’re the one I’m supposed to be meeting tonight?” 

“Oh I most certainly am.” he said, with a huge, shit eating grin. “And speak of the devil! Here she is right now. Nes!” 

Feyre swiveled in her chair to find her sister walking through the door. Nesta looked pristine and perfect, per usual. She looked towards the trio that had formed at the bar, a smirk growing on her face the closer she got. When she reached them, she grabbed Cassian’s face and pulled him down in to a kiss. It was the most un-Nesta like thing Feyre had ever seen her do. She glanced towards Rhys, who’s mouth was open and looked just as shocked as she must look. Not because of the kiss, but because everything was finally clicking into place for him as well. 

Nesta pulled away from Cassian, her hands still placed on his shoulders, and said, “Well it seems like you two have already found each other, so our job here is done.” Nesta grabbed Cassian’s hand and began to pull him away. But Rhys was faster, pulling Cassian’s other arm and yanking him back towards the bar. 

“Hold on, what is happening?” Rhys demanded, looking between Nesta and Cassian. 

Nesta sighed, as if it was the biggest inconvenience of her life to have to stay near them and explain. All the sudden, it was like Feyre was transported back eight years, her and Rhys sitting at her dining room table, laughing, and annoying Nesta. Nesta grumbling about how annoying the pair of them were. 

Cassian, however, seemed more than happy to explain. “Nesta and I met on a stormy night, in this very bar. She was obviously very inebriated” Nesta snorted at this “and needed a ride home but would not tell me where she lived. So instead, being the gentleman I am, I took her back to my house and oh so graciously let her sleep on my bed, while I, self- sacrificing Cassian, took the couch.” 

“Not how the two of you got together! This, happening right now!” Feyre exclaimed. 

“Hold your horses I’m getting there.” Cassian said, turning towards Nesta. “She is just as impatient as you.” That earned him a smack to the chest. He just smiled and carried on.

“When Nesta here woke up the next morning I was making her breakfast, fully prepared to drive her home, but when she saw me without my shirt on, spatula in hand, she just couldn’t help but jump my bones, she wanted to fuck me so-” That earned him another hard smack to the chest. 

“That is not how it happened.” Nesta said glaring daggers at him. But Cassian simply gave her a cheeky grin and continued with his story.

“When we were finished, with breakfast,” he said, pointedly looking at Nesta, who rolled her eyes, “She was looking around my apartment and saw a picture of me and Rhys and immediately recognized him, told me he used to date her sister. That her sister was miserable when they ended their relationship and how when Rhys disappeared without a word she wouldn’t stop whining for weeks.” Now it was Feyre’s turn to blush as she noticed Rhys looking at her out of the corner of her eye. 

Cassian went on, “And about how annoying and mushy they were when they dated in high school. I figured there was only one girl Rhys here dated who could ever possibly fit that description and when I asked Nesta if her sister’s name was Feyre, and she said yes… Well we really could’t pass up this opportunity.” 

“But you two have been dating for two months! Nesta told me she met you two months ago! You knew for two whole months and never said anything?” Feyre was looking right at Nesta, hoping she would feel some sort of guilt for keeping this huge secret from her. 

But Nesta just shrugged in the most Nesta-like way possible and said, “You were still getting over… everything. I wanted to make sure you would be ready.” With that, deeming the conversation over, Nesta grabbed Cassian’s hand once more and pulled him into the crowd. Feyre watched them go, making eye contact with Cassian, who was still grinning like a fiend, as he blindly followed her sister through the bar. 

“I cannot believe them.” Rhys said. Feyre turned towards him and found him staring after his friend and her sister. “I was wondering why he was being so secretive about his mysterious new girl. Normally he would tell us and introduce her to us as soon as he could because he gets so excited about these kinds of things. But if I had seen her I would have immediately asked about you and you” he finally looked at her, “you wouldn’t have been ready?” 

“Let’s sit,” Feyre said, “Catch up.” She gave him a small smile and grabbed her forgotten drink off the bar, motioning for him to follow. 

They weaved through the mass of bodies until Feyre spotted a booth and claimed one side, Rhysand falling in across from her. The booth was more intimate, quiet. All of the sudden she felt very nervous. She could not read his face like she used to, could not figure out what he was thinking. It was like she was 16 again, right before they started dating, when she couldn’t tell if he had liked her or not.

She simply stared at him, and he stared right back. Neither knowing what, exactly, they should say, or where they should even start. Feyre had a vague feeling, just short of discomfort and she hated it. She had only ever felt uncomfortable around him once before, as they were breaking up. 

They had been home from their freshman year of college on winter break. They had done four months of long distance. With her going to New York and him staying in Colorado, both of them felt the strain. Not really on their relationship with each other, but more on their relationship with where they were, the friends they were trying to make, the things they were trying to do and who they were becoming. They had decided to break up and reassess later, when they were both home for summer break. There were a lot of tears on both sides, but the feeling was mutual, their relationship just couldn’t work right then.

It had been for the best. Even though she missed him terribly, life at college got much easier when she wasn’t always sneaking off to talk to him on the phone or sitting around wondering what he was doing. She made friends, joined clubs, threw herself into her painting, she had thrived. 

She had gotten home for summer, ready to tell him all about who she was, ready to hear about who he was becoming, ready to give them another shot, only to find him not there. She had spent the first few weeks laying in bed or on her floor, staring at her ceiling and really only getting up to go to work. That is, until Nesta had finally had enough and forced her to start doing things during the day. While the action was unwelcome, it was the thought that counted, and Feyre appreciated her sister for not letting her wallow in self pity for the majority of the summer. 

But Feyre was feeling that same discomfort now as she looked at him across the table. That same nervousness she felt when she had faced him, in a very similar fashion, eight years ago. 

Finally, Feyre broke the silence, remember something Cassian had mentioned earlier, “So, I’m going to be the most beautiful bride, huh?” She gave him a cheeky smirk and loved the way his cheeks immediately became tinted with red.

Rhys looked down, awkwardly laughed and ran a hand through his hair. A tell-tale sign he was both nervous and embarrassed. He glanced at her from the side of his eye, “You were never supposed to hear that.”

At that Feyre, burst out laughing and Rhys followed suit. She had loved that he never tried to cover things up or pretend to be some cool, suave guy around her when they had been dating, (even though he had been) and apparently that had not changed. 

“So rugby then? Is that where all this muscle came from? Because the last time I saw you, you were definitely much more scrawny.” she asked him, voice teasing.

“Hey! I was not scrawny, okay? The muscle was there. It just wasn’t as… visible.”

“Mhmmm, sure.” 

Rhys just narrowed his eyes at her, fighting the smile she could tell was forming on his face. 

“You know that is not nearly as insulting as you think it is.” Feyre just raised her eyebrows at him, taking a sip from her drink. “All it tells me is that you've been checking me out since I caught you staring at me by the bar.” 

She choked on her drink and start to cough. Rhys barked a laugh and Feyre glared at him as best she could. “New topic then.” He just smirked at her. 

“Did you ever end up inheriting your father’s company?” she asked him. It had been a sore subject when they had been dating. Rhys’ father wanted him to go to school for business, so Rhys could take over when he decided to retire.

“Actually no, much to my father’s disappointment I ditched the business world after first semester freshman year. As you can imagine he did not take it well. Hasn’t talked to me since.” 

“Seriously? Over your career choice? What about your mother?”

“Mom finally left him actually. Decided a loveless marriage was not the way she wanted to live her life. She still lives here. I see her just about every other week.” 

She smiled at that. His mother had absolutely adored Feyre since she had met her, before her and Rhys had even started dating. 

“So what are you doing then?” she asked him. His smiler grew wider, if it was even possible. 

“Kindergarten teacher. It doesn’t pay well obviously, but its fun, and challenging and rewarding.” 

Feyre felt her heart squeeze. Rhys with kids was adorable. She already knew that from watching him play with his much younger sister when they were in high school. 

“What about you? Judging from the paint in your hair” her cheeks flushed and she reached up to, sure enough, feel paint in the hair leading up to her messy bun, “you’re living your dream?”

It was sweet he remembered that was all she wanted to do and be when she grew up. “I paint sometimes, but I’m actually trying to open my own gallery, once I make the official move back.” 

He raised his eyebrows in silent question.

She took a deep breath, “I’ve been living in Connecticut for the past couple of years.” 

His brows rose higher, if it was even possible. 

“I moved there with my boyfriend actually. He’s from Connecticut and got a job there, so we moved.”

“So what happened then? You finally convinced him to move back to the better coast?” Rhys replied with teasing tone. His eyes, however, did not convey the same message. He looked… disappointed? 

She huffed a laugh, “Ah no. We actually broke up in August. He surprised me one day by bringing me to this huge house in the suburbs. Said he was going to buy it for us and got down on one knee in the middle of the kitchen.” Rhys cringed. “I know it was bad. But it was like I saw my whole life flash before my eyes. I was gonna be a suburban mom, in Connecticut, and live my life driving to soccer games and burning cookies. So I said no, moved back here and I’ve been living with Elain while I try to find my own place.” 

“So that’s why Nesta said you wouldn’t have been ready? To see me?” he asked tentatively. 

Feyre nodded. 

“Well I’m glad to see you now.” He gave her a small smile.

She returned it in full force. “Me too. Now, tell me what else I’ve missed.” 

They talked for the rest of the night. Past Cassian and Nesta coming over to tell them they were leaving, past the rest of Rhys friends coming to say goodbye, past the thinning of the bar crowd, until finally one of the bartenders came to tell them sorry, but they were closing in ten minutes. Through it all, Feyre had felt her self leaning farther and farther across the small booth table. Saw Rhys do the same. He had grabbed one of her hands at some point and had been playing with her fingers for the better part of the last hour. 

As they stood from the booth, Feyre found herself not wanting to leave his presence. She had his number now, she knew she would see him again, and soon, if the way things were going was any indication, but she did not want to part so soon after eight years of nothing. 

“You could come back.” Rhys blurted suddenly. Feyre’s eyes widened. “To my apartment, I mean.” She raised her brows and started to smirk. “Not for anything like that.” he quickly corrected. “No, I just mean I have tea and a couch and those halloween pillsbury dough cookies you used to love so much. I just thought, you know, we could keep talking and I don’t want to leave-”

Feyre decided to have mercy on him and cut off his rambling, “Isn’t it a school night?” 

“Well yes, but the beauty of teaching kindergarteners is that eventually they have to have nap time and which means I also get to nap.”

She laughed. “I would love to come back to your apartment. But only for the cookies. I haven’t had those in years.” 

He cracked a smile. “Let’s go then.” He offered her his hand. She looked at it for a moment before meeting his eyes again. They looked hopeful. Something she knew she would never grow tired of.

Feyre interlaced their fingers, giving him her brightest smile. “Let’s go.”


	2. The Apartment

Feyre awoke the next morning in the most comfortable bed. Her first thought, as she stretched her arms over her head and squinted at the walls, was that the guest bedroom in Elain’s apartment was painted a light yellow, not white. The second thought was that the mattress she was on was most definitely memory foam and Elain’s guest bedroom bed was most definitely the 12 year old twin mattress from their old house. Feyre shot up into a sitting position, momentarily surveying her surroundings. There, next to her in the king, king, sized bed, was a mop of black hair and a very naked male back.

“Rhysand”, she thought. A smile started to grow on her face and she flopped back down onto the bed as the night came back to her. Them walking back to his apartment, him kissing her sweetly outside his apartment door. Her turning the kiss into something a little less sweet and a little more desperate. Him unlocking the door, picking her up, shutting the door, and then pushing her up against said door from the inside of the apartment. At some point, she isn’t really sure how, they had ended up in this bed getting… _reacquainted_.

Eventually they had made the cookies. It had been around 3am when they finally stumbled into the kitchen, both laughing. Feyre, wearing his oversized shirt, while Rhys had simply put on an apron over his boxers. Then, they had sat on his kitchen floor eating cookies and drinking tea until about 4am. The last thing Feyre remembered was resting her head on his shoulder as she sat with her back to the oven. Rhys must have carried her into his room shortly after that for some proper rest.

Feyre glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table. It read 6:30, which meant she had gotten just over two hours of sleep. Entirely insufficient but so, so, worth it. She turned her head to the side to steal a glance at Rhys and found him already watching her, a half smile on his face.

“I forgot what an early riser you are.” He grumbled, voice half muffled by the pillow.

“I forgot that you sleep like the dead and don’t rise until noon.” She turned on her side and scooted closer to him, until their noses were a hair breadth apart. “Shouldn’t you be getting up anyways? Don’t you have to go to work?”

“The kids don’t get there until nine. Which means I don’t have to be there until at least 8:30. I could still be sleeping right now.” He laid his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back to the mattress, rolling to hover over her.

“Well no one here is stopping you. By all means, go back to sleep. I’ll just go raid your kitchen for some breakfast and be on my way.”

Rhys dipped his head and said onto the skin of her neck, “You could do that. Or you could stay here and keep me company.” He began kissing up her neck, before lightly nipping along her jaw. “Think of everything we could do in an hour. And then all the great breakfast foods I can make you afterwards.”

“Well, when you put it like that…” She grabbed his face and dragged him up to meet her lips in a searing kiss.

The shirt she was wearing (“His shirt,” she reminded herself) and her underwear were quickly discarded, along with his boxers. What followed next was slow and adoring, communicating all they couldn’t last night when they had both been desperate and passionate. And when they were both left panting and Rhys rolled back over to the other side of the bed, announcing he was going to take a shower, how could she not follow him when he gave her such a suggestive smirk before getting up?

When they were both clean and dressed, they made their way to the kitchen, Rhys promising to make her the best morning after breakfast a woman could dream of. It was nice, sitting on the counter, lightly chatting about his students and what he had planned for them today, watching him make eggs and toast. He had just handed Feyre her plate, avocado toast, topped with a fried egg, leaning in for a slow kiss as he did so, when they both heard the lock turn in the door.

Cassian walked in, eyes scrunched shut, hand out so as to not run into anything, “I promise I am just going to my room. I will not disturb you two, so you can continue on doing what ever it is you’re doing.”

Rhys looked at her and rolled his eyes. “We’re both fully clothed Cassian. We’re eating breakfast.”

“Well in that case count me in.” He stopped in the kitchen leaning against the counter right next to Feyre and stuck out his hand. “Since we never got to formally meet last night before your sister swept me away. I’ve heard a lot about you. From Nesta and Rhys and it really is great to finally meet you.”

Feyre shook his hand, “Nice to finally meet you as well. I haven’t heard much about you but I have heard of you. Considering Nesta, that means a lot.”

Cassian smiled at the mention of Nesta, “She’s going to be so mad. She bet me 20 dollars you guys wouldn’t hook up on the first night. And yet here you are, Rhys’ classic, ‘I just had sex breakfast-’” Rhys spit out some of his coffee, “and you in the same dress you had on last night. I’m going to be a rich man.” Cassian grabbed Rhys’ piece of toast right from his hand and took a huge bite.

Feyre just looked to Rhys with raised eyebrows and a smirk, “Classic ‘I just had sex breakfast’? So you make this for all the girls you bring home?” Cassian started to laugh and Rhys shot him a glare, but Cassian interjected before Rhys could get a word out.

“Not exactly the same. You, Feyre, got the avocado. Rhys never gives any of his other  _guests_ avocado. He must be in love.”

“Don’t you need to change, go get ready? We have to leave in like,” Rhys looked at the clock, his cheeks a light red, “15 minutes.”

“Nope, I am all ready to go! Showered at Nesta’s, had extra clothes at Nesta’s, ate breakfast at Nesta’s. I’ve devoted my whole morning to spending time with the two of you.” Cassian gave them both a cheeky grin as he took another bite out of Rhysand’s breakfast.

“So,” Feyre started, trying to relieve some of the tension in the room as Rhys looked like he wanted to murder Cassian, “you two live together? How did you not know Nesta was the girl Cassian was seeing?”

Cassian answered for Rhys, “That first weekend she was here, Rhys was in San Diego taking his sister on a fun weekend trip. Once we figured out you two were connected we decided it was safer if I just went over to her place. No sneaking your sister in or out that way.”

Feyre nodded her head in understanding. “So you two live together and work together?”

Rhys tore his murderous glare away from Cassian’s face, his features instantly softening, “Not really, Cassian works at the high school but it’s only about a block away from the grade school, so we drive together.”

“Saving the planet, one carpool at a time.” Cassian added, moving away from the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“What do you teach?”

“I’m the senior English teacher. So ya know, normally, the teachers just stand at the podium and talk, get a lot of blank looks. I’m trying out this new curriculum this year though, it’s supposed to be much more interactive and so far its been working, but I guess we’ll see how the rest of the year pans out.”

“So books? Is that how you got Nesta’s attention then?”

Cassian huffed a laugh, “Actually yes, she was at the bar reading one of my favorite books and I just asked her what she thought of it so far. I wasn’t really intending for anything to happen but then she tore the book apart and obviously I had to defend it. We argued about books for the rest of the night and the rest is history.”

“And how did you two meet?” Feyre asked, waving her hands between Rhys and Cassian.

“It was second semester of freshman year. We had an education class together. Cassian continually invited me to hang out with him because he had no friends and told me he could buy me booze. When I refused for the millionth time he barged in my dorm room and forced me to join the rugby team.” Rhys answered.

“I was doing you a favor. You would have sat in that bed the rest of the semester mopping if it wasn’t for me.” Rhys gave him a smile.

“Wait, so you're not our age then?” Feyre asked Cassian.

“Nope. I took a couple years off before I went to school to figure out what I wanted. Worked some odd jobs before I got involved in a high school program at the library and decided that I had to teach, so I went to school.” Cassian walked over to the sink to place his mug there. “Now, I am going to go to my room to gather some things before we leave. Please keep your goodbyes short and quiet as I will be out in no more than five minutes and do not want to walk in on anything.” With that, he left the kitchen, quietly closing his room door after him.

Rhys immediately stepped between her legs where she was still sitting on the counter top, his hands resting on either side of her thighs. “I’m sorry about Cassian.” he said looking up at her.

Feyre tilted her head down enough to rest her forehead on his. “I like that he’s forward. I’m sure that’s why Nesta likes him. And I’m sure he would be great fun to tease her with.” Rhys huffed out a laugh.

“Still, I’m sorry for the breakfast comment.”

“Why? We haven’t seen each other for eight years. It’s not like I thought you hadn’t been with anyone since me. Especially after this morning. You had to have learned how to do _that_ somewhere.” He let out a real laugh at that and leaned forward to press their lips together. God, she could not get enough of him.

“Besides,” she continued once they pulled away, “Today is Friday,” she placed a kiss right below his ear, “and Elain is going out of town for the weekend,” he mumbled a _‘how convenient’_ as she continued kissing along his jaw. “And if you come over, I promise to make you _my_ classic ‘I just had sex’ breakfast tomorrow morning.” She ended up back at his lips, pulling him in for a heated kiss.

He mumbled an, “It’s a date.” against her lips before finally placing his hands on her hips and drawing her closer to him. She had no sooner wrapped her legs around his waist when Cassian yelled, “Times up! I’m coming out!”

The two separated just in time for Cassian to enter the kitchen. “Ready?” he asked, giving Feyre a wink as she made eye contact with him over Rhys’ shoulder. She could still feel Rhys’ eyes on her so she turned back.

“Do you need a ride to your car?” he asked, completely ignoring Cassian.

“No it’s fine, the bar is only a few blocks from here. I can walk.” She smiled at him and he grinned back, briefly lifting her up, only to set her on the ground. However, he did not let go of her hips.

“See you tonight?” His eyes bore into hers. She had missed those eyes so much. The thought that she might never have to miss them again made her heart beat faster.

“Yeah. Eight o’clock?” she asked.

Rhys nodded, “I’ll pick up some dinner on my way.” She only smiled at him.

“Ugghh, you two are just as annoying and gross as Nesta said. If this is what it’s going to be like from now on I’m going to have to permanently wear head phones and a sleep mask around my own apartment.” Cassian ranted as he headed for the door. “I mean my god! You’ve only been reunited for what? 12 hours? And this is it?” He continued mumbling to himself as he opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

This time Feyre rolled her eyes. Grabbing Rhys’ hand she pulled him to the door, picking up her purse off the floor from where she dropped it last night. “Let’s go before he throws a real fit.”

Rhys laughed, grabbing his book bag off a nearby chair and following her out into the hallway, locking the door behind him.

They walked down the stairs together, out into the bright, sunny morning, sharing one more kiss before they parted. Rhys to the waiting car, Cassian sticking his head out the window to shout a goodbye, and Feyre back towards the bar, where her car was still parked.

When she reached the end of the block, her phone chimed, signaling a new message. She pulled it out of her purse only to find a text from Rhys.

_Rhys: Please tell me you're actually free tonight at 5? Cassian said Nesta’s coming over now that they finally don’t have to hide in her apartment. I don’t think I can handle being around them by myself for two hours._

_Feyre: Poor you :( life is so hard. I suppose I could be persuaded to let you in if dinner also comes with ice cream_

_Rhys: It’s a deal._

Feyre dropped her phone back into her purse. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and felt her self break out into a grin wider than it had been in months. Five o’clock could not get here fast enough.


	3. The Twin Bed

The first time they had ever had sex, it had been in Feyre’s tiny twin bed, the summer before they both left for college. It was the middle of June, 98 degrees, and the air conditioning was broken. So when Rhys had jokingly suggested they just take off all their clothes and then she actually _did_ , well things had progressed from there.

They had talked about it, and had been planning on doing it in two weeks time, when Rhys’ parents were going to be out of town, his sister would stay with his grandparents, and he would have the house to himself for one night. But on that June day, when they both felt like they were going to melt, it had just seemed right, so they went for it. They were awkward, and it sort of hurt, but it was also incredibly sweet and perfect and Feyre wouldn’t have had it any other way.

As she laid in her twin bed late Friday night, Rhys’ arm slung around her waist, his breathing deep and even, she could not help but think about that first time as she studied his sleeping face. She lifted a finger and traced a line down his nose just because she could.

They had grown for sure, fitting them both in a twin bed was even harder than it was eight years ago. But if she was being honest with herself, she didn’t particularly care in that moment. Small bed meant less room, and if there was less room, that meant she could be closer to Rhys and didn’t even need an excuse.

Not like she would have needed one anyways. Since the second he stepped through the door, Rhys had found every excuse to touch her. A hand on the small of her back, brushing her hair behind her ear, a light hand on her thigh. Feyre hadn’t minded one bit, seeing as she was trying her hardest not to jump him anyways.

When they were 18, the sex had been fine. They had worked their way up to _almost_ doing it enough times that when they actually got there, they already knew each other’s bodies pretty well. It had been a little awkward at first, but by the end of the summer they had pretty much gotten it down.

Now though, it was like a completely different world. Rhys was not _just fine_ anymore. Even after eight years, he still remembered what made her tick, but now everything he did came with eight years of experience and it was just _better_. More intentional, less rushed and more sure of himself.

She liked to think she had also improved some too since she had last seen him. And if the words coming out of his mouth only an hour ago were any indication, she thought right. Feyre traced another line down his nose and then moved her hands to his chest, feeling his solid heartbeat.

He was actually in her bed. After eight years of thinking she would never see him again, he was actually _in her bed_. Feyre kept thinking she was going to wake up and this would all have been a dream. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t actually closed her eyes to go to sleep yet.

The arm around her waist tightened and pulled her closer, if it were even possible.

“If I look at the clock, and it says 6am, I’m going to be so upset.” Rhys said, keeping his eyes shut.

Feyre huffed out a laugh, tracing another line down his chest, “So dramatic. It’s hardly past midnight, go back to sleep.”

Rhys caught her hand and held it against him, halting her exploring. “I’ll go to sleep when you go to sleep.” He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head.

Feyre snuggled her head closer to his chest. “I think we both know how quickly you’ll lose that game.” She felt, more than heard, the huff of breath he let out at that.

“You haven’t seen me in eight years, you don’t know what kind of night owl I’ve turned into.”

“You loved sleep more than anything else, I can say with pretty much one hundred percent certainty that hasn’t changed.”

“Maybe it hasn’t but it’s _going to_ if we keep staying up until all hours of the night. Why are you still awake?”

“I was just thinking about how long its been since I’ve had to share a twin bed with someone. And about how someone is hogging all the space and all the blankets.”

Rhys finally opened his eyes to playfully glare at her. “Sorry I’m not as _scrawny_ as I once was,” he said, grabbing the comforter and pulling it over their heads, “but I can help with the blanket situation.”

Rhys stared at her from underneath the makeshift cocoon, lifting a hand to push the hair back behind her ear. And in the dead of night, with his body so close, it struck her how much she had missed him. She wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her face into his chest.

“I missed you.” She mumbled into his chest. “I’m sorry it took me so long to find you again.”

His arms tightened around her as well, “I missed you too. I’m sorry Cassian dropped my phone in the toilet and I lost your number.”

Feyre laughed, “So you're saying its Cassian’s fault then? Only fitting he was part of this reunion.”

Rhys spoke again, much softer than before, “Do you ever wonder where we would be if we had never ended it?”

“I think I hate what if questions.”

He laughed, “I know you do. But do you ever wonder, if we hadn’t broken up, would we have stayed together?”

“This is why you shouldn’t stay up late. You start worrying about things that will never happen.”

“Feyre, I’m serious.” Rhys pulled back to look her in the eyes.

“Fine,” she held his stare as best she could. “I think something else would have eventually broken us up. I think we would have gotten frustrated with how we could never have our lives in college and each other. Something had to give and I’m glad we broke up when we did. Before either of us could’ve done something we’d regret.”

He narrowed his eyes at her slightly before sighing through his nose, “Fine, you're right. But now that we are in near proximity, what do we do?”

Feyre froze. She knew she did not want to give him up again, but there was something about being so serious, so fast that spooked her. When she was 18 she had wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. But she had also been 18. With Rhys, everything had always felt so big, and now… well now she didn’t want to rush things and end up messing them up.  
  
“I think we should… keep it casual. I mean, I don’t even have an apartment yet and I don’t think I’m super ready for another Big Relationship.”

Rhys pulled her back into his chest, “I can definitely do casual. Casual is my middle name.”

Feyre knew casual was not something Rhys could “definitely do”. They had tried to be casual when they first started to date in high school. It had taken Rhys all of three days to admit he had liked her ever since they first met at camp when they were fourteen and that he liked her too much now to ever be casual.

So she knew that this was probably not what he wanted, but she also knew he would never push her into anything more than what she was ready for. Feyre closed her eyes and breathed in his scent.

“Just until I get sorted out,” her voice sounded quiet and tired to her own ears.

“We’ll figure it out. For now, we should go to sleep.”

She felt him kiss her head once more before she finally drifted off.

…

“You told him you wanted to be casual?”

She groaned into Elain’s coach cushions she was currently face planted into so she couldn’t see Nesta’s expression.

“You know that he’s in love with you, right?” She heard Elain yell from the kitchen.

“You know you're in love with him, right?” Nesta asked. Elain laughed as she walked back into the living room, three wine glasses in hand.

Feyre turned her head to the side so she could see her two older sisters staring at her. “I am not in love with him. And he is not in love with me. We just saw each other for the first time in a long time.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Feyre glared at Nesta. “I mean honestly, Cassian said Rhys still talks about you. Obviously not as much as he did in college, but every once in a while he would bring you up. And if Cassian is right, which annoyingly, he usually is, Rhys never really stopped loving you, not completely.”

“How could Cassian possibly know that?”

“Did you know Rhys hasn’t had a serious girlfriend since you? Cassian said he dates and girls hang around for a couple months, but Rhysand is never crazy about any of them. Whenever Cassian asks him about it, he always makes up some lame excuse as to why he can’t be bothered with a relationship.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. That could mean a million things that don’t have anything to do with me.”

“I don’t think it does,” Elain piped up from where she sat next to Nesta. “I think it has everything to do with you. I mean the only serious thing you had since Rhys, you ended, and for good reasons, but you still ended it. And maybe part of that is because you never really imagined anyone _but_ Rhys proposing to you.”

“That’s ridiculous. He was my high school boyfriend.”

Nesta just rolled her eyes. “So what? You two were so in love it was disgusting. You needed time apart and you got it. You grew up.” She shrugged, “Now he can be more than your high school boyfriend.”

“Ughhh fine. I shouldn’t have said I wanted to be casual. I don’t want to be casual. I want to be very much un-casual. But it freaks me out! What if we don’t work anymore? I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Well why don’t you just tell him that?”

“Since when are you the queen of telling people how you feel?”

“Maybe since you-”

“Okay stop! You two are not going to start arguing right now.” Elain interjected. “Feyre, you should tell Rhys how you feel. Nesta, don’t pressure her into doing anything she’s not ready to do.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Great. Now, scoot over Feyre, you can only see the TV from the couch.”

The three sisters squeezed onto the couch as Elain pressed play on The Notebook. Noah and Allie were just meeting for the first time when Nesta opened her mouth again.

“Besides, you two aren’t even casual. You spent all weekend together. He helped you look for apartments.”

“Oh my god, can we just watch the movie, Nesta?” Feyre said.

“The Notebook is literally about a girl falling back in love with the boy she was with when they were teenagers. You’re Allie and Rhys is Noah.”

“Why do you even care so much?”

“Because he made you happy! And you’ve been happy since you two broke up. Its been eight years and I’m not saying you’ve been miserable for that long or that you need him to be happy, you certainly don’t. But we’ve met your other boyfriends and no offense but they all sucked.”

“Here we go. I’m getting more wine.” Elain mumbled to herself, standing back up and walking into the kitchen.

“Especially the one from Connecticut. I mean seriously, he wanted to make you a house wife and couldn’t even see how miserable you were. All Rhys ever wanted was for you to be happy. I doubt that’s changed one bit. You could tell him to saw off his toe because it would make you happy and he would do it.”

Feyre felt tears beginning to prick her eyes. Nesta covered her hands with her own and said much softer, “Listen, I’m not trying to make you upset, but we just want you to be happy. You haven’t been happy in so long. And I think moving back to Colorado has helped, but I think Rhysand could help too. And keeping him at an emotional distance won’t.”

Elain sat back down next to Feyre, sandwiching her between the two. She put her head on Elain’s shoulder. “Okay. I’ll… try to talk to him.”

“Good. I’m going to start this movie again, so can we please, please, have enough peace to get through it?” Elain begged.

Nesta huffed out a laugh, “We’ll behave.”

“Thank you. Now let’s watch Rhys and Feyre fall back in love, shall we?”

Feyre elbowed Elain in the side but laughed anyways. She could talk to Rhys and they could figure it out. It would all be okay. 


	4. The Restaurant

Everything was certainly _not_ okay. It had been three months since that first weekend with Rhys. She had found an apartment, moved in, found a job working for a local gallery and was waitressing at night to make some extra money. But she still hadn’t worked up enough courage to address whatever this was between them. She wanted more, wanted to tell him she had fallen in love with him all over again, but didn’t exactly know how to start that conversation. She had been hoping Rhys would just bring it up, but of course he was waiting for her. Which was sweet, but also extremely annoying at the moment.

They were in her kitchen, Feyre sitting on the counter next to the stove, Rhys attempting to explain to her how to make the perfect lasagna. It was a Saturday night, he had already been at her place since he got off work yesterday, and since she didn’t have to work at the restaurant tomorrow morning and wake up at ungodly hours, he would probably be staying the night. Again. This was the third consecutive weekend he had ended up staying at her place, since Cassian and Nesta had basically taken over his apartment.

He was just demonstrating how to properly sprinkle the cheese over the noddles when he looked up at her and abruptly stopped.

“Okay, out with it. What’s the matter?”

“What? Nothing’s the matter.”

“Bullshit. That’s the fourth time I’ve caught you looking like you're about to break something, _tonight_. Not to mention all the other weird looks from last night and last weekend, and then the Wednesday before that and-”

“Oh my god, do you just stare at my face all day long?”

“How could I not, when it’s so beautiful and right in front of me?”

Feyre snorted and rolled her eyes. Rhys stepped away from the stove and crossed his arms, a sure sign he was not going to budge until she explained.

“I hate this.” Confusion and hurt flashed in his eyes, there and gone, fast enough that if she hadn’t already been looking at him she would have missed it.

She rolled her eyes again, “Not you, or this,” she said, gesturing between them. “I hate being casual with you.”

His eyebrows rose on his forehead and he started to smile.

Feyre felt her own smile begin to tug at her lips. “I want to be so un-casual with you. I want to call you before I go to bed if I haven’t seen you that day. I want to go to Sunday brunch with you and your mom. I want to call your mom for her cookie recipe when I don’t have you around to make them for me. I want you to come over without having to make plans days in advance. I want to go on real dates and I want to actually meet all your friends,” She hoped off the counter and walked towards him, grabbing his hands.

“But most of all I want to stop pretending that I’m not still crazy in love with you and that seeing you in that bar wasn’t the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”

A quick tug on her hands had her pressed against his body, and his lips were on hers. The kiss was slow and loving and she could feel his smile in it. He pulled away but rested his forehead on hers, both their eyes closed.

“I love you too, you know. I’ve wanted to say it for such a long time.”

Rhys backed her up to the counter again, his hands moving down to the backs of her thighs in order to lift her up and place her back on the counter. He tore his lips away from hers and began kissing down her neck. Feyre was about to suggest they move to a more comfortable location when her stomach made an abrupt noise.

She felt Rhys laugh against her shoulder before he placed one final, tender kiss right below her ear.

“Eat first, then I’ll show you just how much I love you,” Rhys said, as he moved back to the stove to finish the lasagna. The look he gave her was _almost_ searing enough to make her want to forget the food altogether. Almost.

“So this means you're coming to brunch with mom tomorrow,” Rhys stated, putting the glass rack into the oven and starting the timer.

“Yup.”

“She’ll be thrilled to see you.” Rhys said, pointedly not looking at her.

“I’m excited to see her too,” Feyre replied, voice weary.

“There’s just a slight issue, very minor, not a huge deal, just something you should be aware of.”

Feyre narrowed her eyes at Rhys, “What did you do?”

“Nothing! Really, its just,” Rhys sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I haven’t exactly told her about us, being back in each other’s lives.” 

“Oh my god. You're mom is going to kill us.”

Rhys groaned, moving to stand right in front of her, “I know but if I had told her, she would have most definitely demanded I bring you to see her or she would have come barging over herself. Having you hang out with my mom felt very not casual.”

“I mean, we could just explain it to her. Put the blame on me, she loves me. She won’t get mad at me.”

Rhys squeezed his eyes shut, hands moving to the countertop to bracket her hips, as he plunked his forehead onto her shoulder, “It’s actually a little bit more complicated than that.”

“Oh god, why? Please tell me she doesn’t hate me since we broke up. Or she's trying to set you up with her weird friend Denise’s daughter? Or she no longer-”

“She’s seen Nesta,” Rhys said, cutting her off as he lifted his head. “So it’s not just a matter of me not telling her you were back in my life, but actually denying it.”

“What!? How could she have _possibly_ seen  _Nesta_ before  _me_?”

“She stopped by a little over a month ago, I think? I wasn’t there, but Nesta was, and of course they recognized each other. I don’t know how long they had been talking by the time I got there. And when Nesta and Cassian finally left and it was just us, she wouldn’t stop asking about you. I didn’t know what to say! You know how she can be!” Rhys exclaimed, looking incredibly sheepish.

“Oh no no no no no. You do not get any sympathy from me. What did you tell her exactly?” Feyre gripped his shoulders, lightly pushing him back a step so she could properly look him in the eyes.

“I told her Nesta had told me you had moved back, but we hadn’t seen each other and I had no idea what you were doing with yourself.”

“You are the biggest idiot,” Feyre said, rolling her eyes. “At least she won’t be killing me. I’ll just tell her you're a liar and then she’ll kick you out of Sunday brunch indefinitely and I’ll just replace you in her life as favorite child.”

Rhys glared at her and pinched her side. She pinched him right back, causing him to glare harder.

“Fine, why don’t we tell her we just reconnected? She doesn’t have to know.”

“She’ll know were lying, she can read us like books. Remember? Junior year of high school? When she found us in the car right after you had-”

“Okay stop stop stop. Never bring that up again. I do not want to relive the most embarrassing parent encounter of my life.”

Rhys laughed as he stepped back into the space between her legs, “Maybe if we surprise her with your presence at brunch tomorrow she’ll be so excited she won’t even care to ask?”

“You know as well as I do that will never work. Your mom is going to question us on every little detail. We need to get our story straight,” Feyre said.

“Fine. How about, we met up two weekends ago. You found out Nesta was dating Cassian and desperately asked to see me. That’s a short enough time that she can’t be mad I haven’t brought you to see her yet.”

“What? Why do I have to be the desperate one? I think you should have finally had enough and begged Nesta to set us up, that seems more realistic.”

“Well that’s insulting. I’d like to think I have a bit more self respect than to beg your sister,” Rhys said, as the timer on the oven went off. He stepped away to grab an oven mitt.

“I don’t know about that. Last night you didn’t seem to have any problem begging _me_ for what you wanted.”

Rhys nearly dropped the pan of lasagna as he took it out of the oven. His eyes shot to her as he unceremoniously dropped the hot dish onto the stove top, “Is that supposed to be some kind of challenge?”

“It can be whatever you want it to be.”

“Fine. I’ll make a deal with you. If you can get me off before I can get _you_ off, you can decide on what we tell my mother,” he said, his eyes radiating mischief and confidence.

“I don’t think you realize what you’re saying,” Feyre stated, as she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and swiftly pulled it over her head. She watched Rhys’ eyes glaze over as he took in her black, lace bralette. She slowly slid off the counter, hands moving to undo the clasp of her skirt, “Because what it sounds like, is that you think you can out last me.” The skirt fell to the ground and she stepped out of it, now directly in front of him.

“Oh, I don’t think I can outlast you, Feyre, I know I can.” Rhys said, as he grabbed her hips, tugging her closer. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, slowly moving his lips towards her temple. “I think you are _greatly_ underestimating me,” he whispered into her ear.

It took every ounce of will power she had not to arch into his touch, even as his hands moved down to grip the backs of her thighs. Rhys lifted her up, allowing her to stare directly into his eyes. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he started to walk towards her room. “Then it’s a deal,” Feyre mumbled, crashing her lips into his.

…

Feyre’s first thought, as Rhys tugged her across the restaurant to where his mother was seated, was that Ms. Pindar looked exactly as she did eight years ago. Her midnight black hair was still long, pulled back into an immaculate braid, her eyes still bright blue, as they registered Rhys walking towards her, and her golden brown skin, the same shade as Rhys’, still glowed as though the sun itself emanated from her.

Her second thought, as she saw Ms. Pindar’s mouth drop open upon realizing who was walking behind her son, was that she was entirely unprepared to see the woman who had opened up her heart and home to her so many years ago. Feyre should have tried harder to keep in touch, to find them. Rhys’ mom probably resented her for leaving them high and dry when she had done so much to make sure Feyre had a positive female role model in her life.

Rhys finally stopped in front of the small table, his smile practically blinding the other people around them, “Hey Mom, look who I found hanging out-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Ms. Pindar stood from her seat and shoved Rhys aside, pulling Feyre into a crushing hug. Feyre met Rhys’ eyes over his mom’s shoulder, only to find him slightly blurry. She felt the tears slowly sliding down her face. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed the woman now rubbing soothing lines up and down her back until she was right in front of her. Rhys gave her a small, sweet smile as he sat down in one of the open chairs.

Ms. Pindar pulled back, her own eyes shining as she took Feyre’s face in her hands, gently wiping away her tears, “You are an elusive one, my dear. I have been telling Rhys to get off his ass and track you down for years now.”

Feyre let out a wet laugh, “Well I’m glad he finally took your advice.”

“We’ve missed you, Feyre Archeron.”

“I’ve missed you too, Ms. Pindar,” Feyre said, her voice wobbly. She didn’t think it would be this emotional. She didn’t even shed a tear when she saw Rhys for the first time.

“Oh please, you haven’t called me that since you were fifteen. You know I prefer Maya anyways,” she said, taking Feyre’s hand and guiding her to the table. Maya gave her hand one squeeze before she dropped it, moving to sit back down in her chair. Feyre looked to Rhys as she sat down across from him. He was still looking at her with that same, loving smile. That is, until his mom smacked his arm, forcing him to turn to her.

“Ow? What was that for?” Rhys exclaimed.

“That,” Maya said, “was for keeping her from me these past few months.”

“Actually, Feyre and I just met up a few weekends ago.”

Feyre coughed.

“ _After_ I begged Nesta to give me her number,” he added begrudgingly. Feyre smiled smugly at him from across the table. The cold lasagna was so worth it.

Maya smacked his arm again. “Ow!”

“Don’t you lie to me Rhysand Pindar. You think I haven’t noticed the constant good mood, the smiling every time your phone lights up? Not to mention the hickeys you think you do such a good job of hiding.” Feyre watched Rhys’ face turn bright red, positive that his blush matched her own. “I’m your mother, not some unobservant fool. You’re going to have to try harder than that if you want to pull one over on me,” she finished, opening her menu and scanning the items.

Rhys gave her a pleading look. “We didn’t mean to hide it from you,” Feyre started. Maya’s eyes slid to her and she fought the urge to squirm under the calculating gaze. “I was in a weird spot and I was being overly cautious and really it’s not Rhys' fault. I just didn't want-”

Rhys’ mom’s eyes softened and she cut off Feyre’s rambling with a gentle hand on her arm. “Oh darling, I don’t blame you in the slightest. Nesta mentioned your move and break up when I saw her. You’ve been through a tough few years and this isn’t your fault in the slightest.”

Feyre felt her eyes welling up again at the kindness and compassion written all over Maya’s face. She couldn’t believe she had ever allowed herself to lose touch with this amazing woman.

Her head whipped towards her son with the intuition only a mother could have, beginning before Rhys could even open his mouth, “Don’t even think about talking back to me at the moment. We’ll talk about this later, so we don’t waste any precious seconds with lovely Feyre.”

Maya turned her eyes back to the menu, dismissing whatever retort Rhys had on his tongue. Feyre looked at him over her own menu, holding in her laughter. Rhys narrowed his eyes at her and glanced towards the side of his menu, away from his mom. Feyre followed his gaze, to see that he was giving her the middle finger.

“I can see that Rhysand,” Maya said, as she turned towards Feyre. “Feyre, please feel free to get whatever you want. _Rhysand_ will be paying.”

“You know I’m on a teacher’s salary right?” 

“Well you really should have thought about that before you lied to your own mother and then flipped me off,” Feyre replied, as she began searching the menu for what to eat.

“I forgot how this was, spending time with the two of you,” Rhys said. His mother just laughed and continued looking at her brunch options. Feyre looked up once more and found Rhys watching her. He was smiling softly at her, an unreadable look in his eyes. She rose her eyebrows at him but he simply shook his head, turning to address the waitress that had come to take their order.

The rest of brunch passed by uneventfully. Feyre told Maya all that had happened to her in the past eight years. She spoke of college, her art, traveling abroad, her sisters and the new gallery she was working at. In turn, Maya told her about the past eight years of her own life. How after divorcing Rhys’ father, she finally went to nursing school like she had always wanted, using the money she got in the divorce to pay her way through school. She told Feyre about the hospital she was now working at, and how it was never too late to follow your dreams.

Every once in a while, Feyre would meet Rhys’ eyes across the table to see him giving her that same, quiet smile. And every time, Feyre would feel herself start to blush and have to look away, before she did something stupid, like grab his face and kiss him right across her eggs and toast.

By the end of the meal, Feyre already had plans to see Maya later in the week for lunch. She was given another rib crushing hug, and watched as Rhys leaned in to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. Maya grabbed his shoulders, whispering something to him that Feyre couldn’t hear, but caused Rhys to pull away blushing.

Maya’s eyes met her own, “Feyre, I am so happy you came this morning. You’re the best thing to ever happen to this boy. Don’t let him forget it.”

Feyre laughed, “He’s the best thing to happen to me too.” She felt Rhys’ hand bump against her own, lacing their fingers together. His mom gave them a wide grin, turning on her heel to head in the opposite direction of where they parked Feyre’s car.

Feyre turned towards Rhys, “I missed your mom so much.”

“Yes, well, she missed you too, if you couldn’t tell from the past two hours.”

Feyre smiled, rising on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the lips, “C’mon, you can drive back to my apartment. It’s my day off and my kitchen and your mom’s cookie recipe is calling our names.”

She pulled away, tugging on his hand as she began walking towards her car. Feyre tossed Rhys the keys as she opened the passenger door and was about to slide in when Rhys began speaking.

“She’s right, you know.”

Feyre looked at him over the top of her car, “Who’s right about what?”

“My mom. She wasn’t lying when she said you’re the best thing to happen to me.”

She stared into his face, open, honest, emotion, laid plainly out for her to see, “Good, because I wasn’t either.” 


End file.
